However, CB has one major issue, and that is in most countries the facility to receive CB text messages is turned off within the mobile phone handsets themselves. In the US, The Netherlands and Japan, the authorities have got round this problem by stipulating that all mobile phones sold in those countries have this facility turned on at the point of sale. And, as a person typically buys a new mobile

phone every two or three years, over the course of a year and a half it is estimated that around 50% of the population would have the CB facility. ‘For the vendors it is relatively easy because all the standards are written already so they don’t have to invent anything,’ adds Mark Wood.

 

Cell Broadcast/Cell Information (CB) messaging is a mobile technology feature defined by the ETSI’s GSM committee and is part of the GSM standard. It is also known as Short Message Service-Cell Broadcast (SMS-CB).

 

Cell Broadcast is designed for simultaneous delivery to multiple users in a specified area. Whereas the Short Message Service-Point to Point (SMS-PP) is a one-to-one and one-to-a-few service (requires multiple SMS messages, as each message can only carry one phone number), Cell Broadcast is a one-to-many geographically focused messaging service. Cell Broadcast messaging is also supported by UMTS.

 

Cell Broadcast messaging was technologically demonstrated in Paris for the first time in 1997. Some mobile operators use Cell Broadcast for communicating the area code of the antenna cell to the mobile user (via channel 050), for nationwide or citywide alerting, weather reports, mass messaging, location-based news, etc. Not all operators have the Cell Broadcast messaging function activated in their network yet, and many handsets do not have the capability to support cell broadcast.

 

Cell Broadcast is a technology that allows a text or binary message to be defined and distributed to all mobile terminals connected to a geographically selected set of cells. Whereas SMS messages are sent point-to-point, Cell Broadcast messages are sent point-to-area.

 

Thus, one Cell Broadcast message can reach an unlimited number of terminals at once. In other words, Cell Broadcast messages are directed to radio cells, rather than to a specific terminal. A Cell Broadcast message is an unconfirmed push service, meaning that the originator of the message does not know who has received the message, allowing for services based on anonymity. Mobile telephone user manuals describe how the user can switch the receiving of Cell Broadcast messages on or off.

 

Cell Broadcast is not as affected by traffic load; therefore, it may be usable during a disaster when load spikes (mass call events) tend to crash networks, as the 7 July 2005 London bombings showed. Another example was during the Tsunami catastrophe in Asia. Dialog GSM, an operator in Sri Lanka was able to provide ongoing emergency information to its subscribers, to warn of incoming waves, to give news updates, to direct people to supply and distribution centers.

 

Display of CB messages on the mobile terminal is selectively determined by the message’s CBS Message Identifier Code, a 16-bit integer which identifies the subject of the message. Essentially the Message Identifier Code is used as a message filter to determine if a CB message should or should not be displayed by the user’s terminal. The lowest MICs (0-999) are in the users’ control. The others are reserved. Additionally certain MIC sets are defaults activated while others are able to be over-the-air activated by the mobile operator. 

 

Cell broadcast is widely deployed since year 2008. The major European operators have deployed the technology in their networks. In Pakistan, Telenor PK is the first network to use this option country wide. Telenor Pakistan provides location indicator service branded as Auto Location. WaridTel also uses this option but not nation wide and displays offers only.

 

Cell Broadcast is a mobile technology that allows messages (up to 15 pages of up to 93 characters) to be broadcast to all mobile handsets and similar devices within a designated geographical area. The broadcast range can be varied, from a single cell to the entire network.

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